The second of the short films on the Best v Best Vol 2 DVD that I watched continued in the same vein of Hibernation not in the thematic sense but in the way it left me struggling to catch up and understand what I was watching. In some regards this observation is a criticism of the film that it gave me no frame of reference to join it with, but it a way it is good to have the short require me to pay attention and focus on what I was watching. That said, the danger with writing a review of such a film is that, if I'm wrong in my take on it, then I look like an idiot.
Having already achieved that in many, many other ways though, I might as well plough onwards. I took the film to be a comment on the protective masks that are everywhere is some countries in the Orient and, specifically a comment on the approach of society in regards risks to health. It made me think of a newspaper article last year about the amount of germs that the average office keyboard has within it and how really none of us would be eating our lunch at our desks if we understood it. At the time the papers were full of bird-flu panic as one swan was found dead somewhere in Scotland and it did make me think about the sense of proportion over the risks of the two sets of "germs".
I thought of this because the film seemed to be making the same point. The lead character smokes, drinks, engages in unprotected sex and appears to have some sort of infection in her chest. So while a condom is discarded, the mask never moves. It is a simple point maybe but it is a good one. It is also helped by Wi's direction, which is stylish and cool throughout. Not a perfect film then, but it does a lot with a simple message, looks good and, although a little difficult to follow at first, allows the audience to see the message for themselves.